This invention relates to a bread making apparatus primarily for domestic use, and in particular relates to an apparatus which makes bread, first making dough by mixing and kneading raw materials in a baking case, and then baking the dough after fermentation.
A conventional bread baking apparatus in Japanese patent laid-open No. Showa 63-197417 teaches placing wheat flour, water and yeast into a bread baking case set in a closed oven, making dough by kneading, then fermenting the dough, and baking the desired type of bread.
In this prior art, by pushing down a start button, a sequence program stored in ROM of a microcomputer reads out the bread baking processes in the following order: primary-kneading process.fwdarw.pause period.fwdarw.secondary kneading process.fwdarw.fermenting process.fwdarw.baking process.fwdarw.cooling process, and the baking process progresses sequentially, with each process assigned a prescribed time. Each specified processing time in the above-mentioned sequence program is set, with the forming-fermenting process, for example, being allocated about 50 minutes.
Because the conventional bread making apparatus is so controlled, miscellaneous drawbacks eventually arise as described below.
Namely, at first, an upper portion of a conventional oven has a detachably installed bread baking case which opens upwardly and a transparent glass lid openably installed thereon. This transparent lid allows for easy observation of the bread-making progress. However, despite this convenience, bread making conditions are apt to be affected by external room temperatures and humidity through the transparent glass. The fermenting dough will expand its volume, especially at high room temperatures and at high humidity levels, will come in contact with the lid, and be baked in this manner. The appearance of the baked bread is therefore disagreeable, and removing the bread stuck on the lid might lead to contamination.
Further, as the dough forming and fermenting periods are allocated specified times in the bread making process, and these specified times are stored fixedly in the sequence program, it is impossible to regulate the time periods. Accordingly, a shortage in the prespecified forming-fermenting time can occur when the apparatus is affected by the temperature of the ingredients, the external temperature and humidity introduced through the transparent glass window or other miscellaneous conditions, especially under conditions of low temperature and low humidity. The resultant dough-forming and fermenting process is insufficient, producing bread that has not sufficiently risen during the fermenting process.
The normal expansion of the dough during the fermenting process is the most important point in producing good bread. In order to obtain agreeable-looking bread, there were many problems relating to the color of the baked bread in the baking process following fermentation and the cooling process that follows baking.